Ease Of Living: What Pune Needs To Do To Outdo Itself
Pune left behind 110 cities to attain the top slot in the government’s ease of living index. However, the city’s overall score — 58.11 out of 100 — shows Pune has yet to achieve a great deal to become a better city and to outdo itself. Experts are also of the opinion that there is scope for improvement in its infrastructure before Pune becomes a city of global standards.
On certain parameters, on which a city’s ranking is based, Pune has failed to dazzle its citizens, its positioning at number one at the index notwithstanding.
"As far as comparing Pune with other cities in Maharashtra is concerned, we are the best. However, when it comes to comparison at the national and international level, we have a long way to go,” says former vice-chancellor of the Savitribai Pune Phule University Vasudev Gade.
“Students still prefer Pune because of its pollution-free environment, safety, standard of living and overall business ecosystem and job opportunities … If you compare the standard of schools, colleges and research in Pune with schools, colleges in Delhi, we are nowhere,” she adds.
The national capital is ranked 65th in the ease of living index; it is ranked 59th in the education category.
Re-settling the score
Sample this.
Pune is not number one on any of the four pillars and in any of the 15 categories based on which a city’s performance is ranked. While four pillars are institutional, social, economic and physical, the 15 categories include governance, identity & culture, education, health, safety & security, economy & employment, housing & inclusiveness, public open spaces, mixed land use & compactness, power supply, transportation & mobility, assured water supply, waste water management, solid waste management and reduced pollution.
As far as the pillars go, Pune has got the best ranking –2 — on physical infrastructure. Comparatively, it has got the eighth ranking on the institutional pillar. On social and economic pillars, it is ranked, fifth and seventh, respectively.
Navi Mumbai is at the top of the institutional pillar; Tirupati occupies that position on the social front; Chandigarh and Greater Mumbai, respectively, are the top rankers at the economic and physical pillars.
Pune’s performance has been outstanding, however, in several categories. In both cutting down pollution and providing assured water supply to its citizen, the city is rated second. Erode occupies the top position in providing assured water supply to its citizens while Ludhiana is the top scorer when it comes to action on pollution reduction.
Pune has registered its second-best performance in three categories — health, public open spaces and wastewater management — where is scored a 4. While Tiruchirappalli is the top scorer in the health category, Gandhinagar and Vijaywada are the top rankers on public open space and wastewater management categories, respectively.
Pune is ranked fifth and seventh in solid waste management and economy & employment categories while it has scored an eight in both governance and education categories. Tirupati is the top performer in the solid waste management category; Chandigarh is ranked number one in the economy & employment category; Faridabad is the best in providing education; Navi Mumbai is the best when it comes to governance.
Learn from thy neighbour
Pune has got its lowest ranking in the mixed land use & compactness category (Pune 49th; Greater Mumbai is 1), followed by safety & security (Pune 25th, Sagar is 1) and housing & inclusiveness (Pune 23th; Ghaziabad is 1).
Interestingly, Sagar has an overall 66th ranking while Ghaziabad is ranked 46th at the index.
Thane, which has an overall sixth ranking at the index, is the top scorer in transport and power supply. Pune, on the other hand, has got 12th and 10th rankings in these respective categories.
Maharashtra’s cultural capital has been ranked 14th in the identity and culture category; this category is topped by City Beautiful Chandigarh.
Also read: Want Ease of Living? Move To Pune